Arch Linux

stavrosmachinima

Member

Registered: 2024-07-07

Posts: 1

Loading initial ramdisk very slow

So after booting into the grub menu and selecting the kernel. Two lines appear

Loading Linux linux ...
Loading initial ramdisk ...

And after that it takes my system 10-12 seconds to show the login screen of GDM.
I think I started noticing it after I made the /boot partition larger so I could save some space for 2 other kernels (linux-zen, linux-lts), but I am not sure if it's related.
My current kernel is 6.9.7-arch1-1. Booting into the other two kernels made no significant impact in boot.

Following I post the outputs of a couple of commands that might help.

systemd-analyze critical-chain

The time when unit became active or started is printed after the "@" character.
The time the unit took to start is printed after the "+" character.

graphical.target @3.144s
└─gdm.service @3.127s +16ms
  └─systemd-user-sessions.service @3.116s +8ms
    └─network.target @3.114s
      └─wpa_supplicant.service @3.064s +49ms
        └─basic.target @2.129s
          └─dbus-broker.service @2.100s +27ms
            └─dbus.socket @2.096s
              └─sysinit.target @2.095s
                └─systemd-update-done.service @2.069s +25ms
                  └─ldconfig.service @1.924s +144ms
                    └─local-fs.target @1.921s
                      └─boot.mount @1.867s +53ms
                        └─systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-3b1c3902\x2d8a6a\x2d473a\x2db2a3\x2d28ba4044c629.service @1.3>
                          └─dev-disk-by\x2duuid-3b1c3902\x2d8a6a\x2d473a\x2db2a3\x2d28ba4044c629.device @1.301s

systemd-analyze blame

930ms NetworkManager.service
561ms mnt-data2.mount
495ms dev-sda3.device
426ms systemd-random-seed.service
215ms user@1000.service
188ms udisks2.service
165ms accounts-daemon.service
144ms ldconfig.service
134ms systemd-journal-flush.service
130ms upower.service
127ms systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev-early.service
116ms systemd-udev-trigger.service
112ms mnt-data.mount
 97ms systemd-journald.service
 92ms systemd-remount-fs.service
 87ms systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service
 87ms systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service
 84ms polkit.service
 67ms systemd-sysctl.service
 66ms systemd-sysusers.service
 65ms systemd-udevd.service
 63ms systemd-hostnamed.service
 53ms boot.mount
 53ms colord.service
 52ms systemd-vconsole-setup.service
 52ms systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-3b1c3902\x2d8a6a\x2d473a\x2db2a3\x2d28ba4044c629.service
 49ms wpa_supplicant.service
 46ms systemd-rfkill.service
 44ms systemd-logind.service
 42ms tmp.mount
 39ms systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service

I also tried to change the compression method in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf, without any significant change.

Maybe unrelated
journalctl -p 3 -xb

Jul 07 16:41:29 arch-hadrian kernel: 
Jul 07 16:41:51 arch-hadrian gdm-password][995]: gkr-pam: unable to locate daemon control file
Jul 07 16:41:51 arch-hadrian gdm[508]: Gdm: on_display_added: assertion 'GDM_IS_REMOTE_DISPLAY (display)' failed
Jul 07 16:41:52 arch-hadrian systemd[1010]: Failed to start Application launched by gnome-session-binary.
░░ Subject: A start job for unit UNIT has failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ A start job for unit UNIT has finished with a failure.
░░ 
░░ The job identifier is 147 and the job result is failed.
Jul 07 16:41:52 arch-hadrian systemd[1010]: Failed to start Application launched by gnome-session-binary.
░░ Subject: A start job for unit UNIT has failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ A start job for unit UNIT has finished with a failure.
░░ 
░░ The job identifier is 143 and the job result is failed.
Jul 07 16:41:56 arch-hadrian gdm[508]: Gdm: on_display_removed: assertion 'GDM_IS_REMOTE_DISPLAY (display)' failed

systemctl list-unit-files --state=enabled

UNIT FILE                          STATE   PRESET  
gdm.service                        enabled disabled
getty@.service                     enabled enabled 
NetworkManager-dispatcher.service  enabled disabled
NetworkManager-wait-online.service enabled disabled
NetworkManager.service             enabled disabled
nvidia-hibernate.service           enabled disabled
nvidia-resume.service              enabled disabled
nvidia-suspend.service             enabled disabled
ufw.service                        enabled disabled
systemd-userdbd.socket             enabled enabled 
remote-fs.target                   enabled enabled 

Any help would be appreciated.

ua4000

Member

Registered: 2015-10-14

Posts: 558

Re: Loading initial ramdisk very slow

And after that it takes my system 10-12 seconds to show the login screen of GDM.

Which is quiet "normal" and highly depends on your cpu/ssd/harddisk/ capability and  gpu/services setup.
Was it faster before ? Did you measure it, or is it more a feeling ?

- You could try to remove the default "quiet" option in grub and replace it with nosplash noplymouth, to see more details on the boot.
- Post your mkinitcpio config
- further reading: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Improv … ot_process